MY COUSIN'S 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

At the end of my last blog, I was staying overnight in a campground in Portage, IN and headed for Pepin, WI for the Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration of my cousin, Joanne Frank and her husband, Jim. Their anniversary actually isn't until December 31, but they spend winters in AZ and CA, and they wanted to have it this summer when their two daughters were visiting from the San Diego area. Pepin is a small Wisconsin town (population less than 700) on the banks of the Mississippi and is the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame. They have Laura Days every September in celebration of her birthday and my friend, Darlene, and I were there last year on our South Dakota trip. Although my family visited that area often when I was a child, I never appreciated the beauty of the area. It almost appears mountainous, although they are just hills and the highways follow the Mississippi for many miles. Their daughter, Jenny, knew I was coming, but it was a surprise to Joanne and Jim and Joanne's other siblings who live in the area. Joanne saw the Roadtrek first, then noticed the NC license plate and when she saw the Mary Kay logo on the back window she knew it was me! She was so surprised and it was so much fun surprising her! I actually left the Mt. Eaton Rally a day early to get there for the party. It was fun seeing my other cousins and their children, spouses, and grandchildren, too. The party was held at the local Lions Club and although 128 people signed the Guest Book, we think there were at least 150 attendees. Not bad for a small town. I haven't yet figured out how to label pictures, but the first one above is of my cousins, Carolyn, Joanne, and Helen. Next picture is the happily still married couple!

The two days driving it took to get to Wisconsin were tiring to say the least. My GPS is a wonderful gadget and has been a lifesaver in some situations but in others it isn't always accurate. It really helped me get around in Scranton for the wedding, but I didn't totally trust it to get me to Wisconsin and around Chicago. So I looked at a map and also printed out directions from Mapquest and FreeTrip.com. I chose to take the route with no tolls -which much to my dismay led me through the heart of Chicago during the late morning rush hour! It actually wasn't too bad since most of the traffic was backed up going in the other direction but it was still a little unnerving. Adding to that, it rained all the way from Milwaukee to Pepin which always makes for tedious driving. On the way, I stopped in Racine, WI at Bentsen's Bakery which claims to have the best Kringle anywhere! This was the third time I had been there and I left with a Cherry and Pecan Kringle to take to my cousin's. What's a Kringle? It's a Danish pastry shaped like an oval and is delectable and delicious!

On my return trip I had to go through the Chicago area again. This time I chose the Toll Road because I thought it would take me away from the Inner Loop. Wrong! I paid over $10 in tolls and went right through downtown again! Here's a picture I took - yes, while driving - of the Chicago Skyline! It was Sunday afternoon so I thought there wouldn't be as much traffic. Wrong again! It was bumper to bumper! The most interesting part of the trip was viewing an accident that had just happened in the lane next to me as I was paying my toll. A car rammed right into the back of a bus stopped at the toll booth. The front end of the car was completely caved in and the hood was up. Imagine trying to explain to your friends how that happened!

I spent Sunday night in a State Campground in Sawyer, Michigan. Again, it was a not so nice campground and the campground hosts checking me in were totally inefficient. I was directly across from the bath house, though, so that was a plus. I think the campground was on Lake Michigan, but I got there late and left early and didn't have time to check it out. This was my first visit, ever, to the State of Michigan! Now I've been to all the States except for Alaska! I can also add the Michigan sticker to the map on my Roadtrek. This Roadtrek has been through all the States now except for the New England States. I've been there but not with the RT. I feel fortunate to have traveled through all those states in a span of a little over 7 years. I'm going to end this blog here and continue with another one for my first two days in Canada.